*UPDATED 04/25/25* zOMGaians UNITE!!!

[Mavdoc]

Sorry I wasn’t able to attend the Dev Meat guys. I was at Atari’s 50th anniversary reunion in a San Jose park, and I got to meet the living legend Nolan Bushnell! biggrin He’s the one who created Atari, Pong, the world’s first arcade game, Chuck E. Cheese, and around 20 other companies. Got to see and hang out with old friends from my time at Midway (Atari) and meet lots of new people too. whee

I’ve been writing up a record of what happened there so I don’t forget the details, and I could share it with you guys if you’re interested. 3nodding

Next Friday will be a Dev Meat as usual focused around Halloween, and someone has a birthday who also just finished creating an awesome piece of public art himself that we can celebrate! emotion_yatta

[raggedy grrl]

Mavdoc

Sorry I wasn’t able to attend the Dev Meat guys.  I was at Atari’s 50th anniversary reunion in a San Jose park, and I got to meet the living legend Nolan Bushnell! biggrin   He’s the one who created Atari, Pong, the world’s first arcade game, Chuck E. Cheese, and around 20 other companies. Got to see and hang out with old friends from my time at Midway (Atari) and meet lots of new people too. whee

I’ve been writing up a record of what happened there so I don’t forget the details, and I could share it with you guys if you’re interested. 3nodding

Next Friday will be a Dev Meat as usual focused around Halloween, and someone has a birthday who also just finished creating an awesome piece of public art himself that we can celebrate! emotion_yatta

That's AWESOME!!! Love to read your account!!! Did you get a photo or an autograph?

[Mavdoc]

raggedy grrl

Mavdoc

Sorry I wasn’t able to attend the Dev Meat guys.  I was at Atari’s 50th anniversary reunion in a San Jose park, and I got to meet the living legend Nolan Bushnell! biggrin   He’s the one who created Atari, Pong, the world’s first arcade game, Chuck E. Cheese, and around 20 other companies. Got to see and hang out with old friends from my time at Midway (Atari) and meet lots of new people too. whee

I’ve been writing up a record of what happened there so I don’t forget the details, and I could share it with you guys if you’re interested. 3nodding

Next Friday will be a Dev Meat as usual focused around Halloween, and someone has a birthday who also just finished creating an awesome piece of public art himself that we can celebrate! emotion_yatta

That's AWESOME!!! Love to read your account!!! Did you get a photo or an autograph?

Thanks raggedy! biggrin Okay, I'll share the story with you guys soon. Your question though would be a spoiler. wink

[bit390]

Mavdoc

Sorry I wasn’t able to attend the Dev Meat guys. I was at Atari’s 50th anniversary reunion in a San Jose park, and I got to meet the living legend Nolan Bushnell! biggrin He’s the one who created Atari, Pong, the world’s first arcade game, Chuck E. Cheese, and around 20 other companies. Got to see and hang out with old friends from my time at Midway (Atari) and meet lots of new people too. whee

I’ve been writing up a record of what happened there so I don’t forget the details, and I could share it with you guys if you’re interested. 3nodding

Next Friday will be a Dev Meat as usual focused around Halloween, and someone has a birthday who also just finished creating an awesome piece of public art himself that we can celebrate! emotion_yatta

Atari’s 50th anniversary reunion

Woooow that sound so awesome !!


and more lucky you that meet Nolan Bushnell emotion_yatta


Do you work for this company? eek

For what I know, in that time, you just have a very limited memory space in the chip,
and you need to optimize your code....(i wonder if i was strict necessary to work with
assemble code)

Could be so great if you share your record in your gaia journal, please biggrin

[Mavdoc]

bit390

Mavdoc

Sorry I wasn’t able to attend the Dev Meat guys. I was at Atari’s 50th anniversary reunion in a San Jose park, and I got to meet the living legend Nolan Bushnell! biggrin He’s the one who created Atari, Pong, the world’s first arcade game, Chuck E. Cheese, and around 20 other companies. Got to see and hang out with old friends from my time at Midway (Atari) and meet lots of new people too. whee

I’ve been writing up a record of what happened there so I don’t forget the details, and I could share it with you guys if you’re interested. 3nodding

Next Friday will be a Dev Meat as usual focused around Halloween, and someone has a birthday who also just finished creating an awesome piece of public art himself that we can celebrate! emotion_yatta

Atari’s 50th anniversary reunion

Woooow that sound so awesome !!


and more lucky you that meet Nolan Bushnell emotion_yatta


Do you work for this company? eek

For what I know, in that time, you just have a very limited memory space in the chip,
and you need to optimize your code....(i wonder if i was strict necessary to work with
assemble code)

Could be so great if you share your record in your gaia journal, please biggrin

Yup, I worked at Midway Games West. biggrin

Unfortunately the game we were working on got cancelled when the whole studio was shut down. emotion_facepalm It was an illegal street racing game that probably would have been made part of the Rush franchise. The Fast and the Furious movie had just released and that trend was all the rage back then. xd

I don't have a journal, so I'll just share the story here for now. 3nodding

[Mavdoc]

Here is the journal type account I made for what happened at the Atari company event recently. It was meant for me to remember the details long term, plus since I'm sharing it with others, I added in company history which I paraphrased through Wikipedia.

Hope you enjoy reading and learning how big of an influence Nolan Bushnell and Atari was in so many aspects of life we know today! biggrin



Atari 50th Anniversary Reunion

The Event

Atari's 50th anniversary occurred on October 7th and they had a 5+ hour reunion in a San Jose park which I attended. Midway still had the name Atari just 3 years before I started working there, and of course their roots are famously well-known.

I went with an old coworker friend that flew up from San Diego and met other friends at the park. Earlier to my surprise I'd learned that the living legend Nolan Bushnell was going to be there, who was the one that started Atari! The name Atari is a Japanese term from Nolan's favorite game Go referring to when you're about to take the other player's piece(s). Atari's first game was Pong, which was a massive success and the inspiration for Atari's logo.

Nolan is also credited with creating the first arcade game in the world: Computer Space. Production of the game began in December 1971, the month and year I was born. I attended this 50th anniversary event at the age of 50 myself.

The Legend

Nolan started more than 20 companies, one of them being Chuck E. Cheese. He was an electrical engineer and always wanted to work for Disney, and choose the mascot as a homage to Mickey Mouse. The restaurant became the perfect place to showcase arcade games that Atari created, as Nolan had imagined a place where kids can eat pizza and have fun playing together.

In the early 80's, Nolan poured his efforts into a company he owned named Kadabrascope which was an early attempt at computer animation. A couple years later he sold it to George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars, which became the beginnings of Pixar.

Nolan founded another company in 1984 that helped startup businesses develop. One of these companies was the first to digitize the maps of the world and became the backbone of Google Maps and other GPS systems.

He's created and spearheaded so many things in his life it almost doesn't seem possible. Of course one of the biggest things he's known for is the Atari 2600, which was my first video game system that started my passion for video games. He formulated the concept and design of the system that could play interchangeable games, which was groundbreaking at the time. The first game created was Pong, made by Nolan Bushnell and Allan Alcorn; Atari's second employee.

The Kid

In 1974, an 18 year old kid with disheveled hair and wearing sandals arrived in Atari's front lobby. The secretary called Allan and said: "We’ve got a hippie kid in the lobby. He says he’s not going to leave until we hire him. Should we call the cops or let him in?" Despite his look, Allen decided to see him and was so impressed by the enthusiasm the kid had that he hired him on the spot. He proved difficult to work with and believed (incorrectly) he didn't need to take showers or use deodorant because of the special fruit diet he was on, even though he had strong body odor that bothered other employees. Allan's solution was to have him work alone only at night. That young hippie's name: Steve Jobs.

At one point Steve Jobs approached Nolan about investing in the home computer he created with his friend Steve Wozniak from borrowed Atari parts which he named the Apple I. Nolan wanted to focus the company on arcade games and home consoles so he declined the offer. Later in 1975, Steve Jobs approached Nolan again and offered a one-third equity stake in his new company Apple for $50k to which he said no, probably Nolan's biggest regret.

Before the Atari reunion I read the Wikipedia pages for Nolan Bushnell, Allan Alcorn and Atari just for the slim chance that it could come in handy. I even came up with conversation starters I could use if by some miracle I'd run into them to chat. In the end it just helped me to write up this brief history of the company and its major players.

The Meeting

The entire time I was at the reunion, I was scanning for Nolan hoping just to get a glimpse of him in person. The event totaled 200-300 former employees and some guests which was far larger than I'd imagined it would be. As my friends and I got dinner and we sat on a park bench together, I stopped searching and focused on eating.

Then out of the blue I looked up as someone approached, and I saw Nolan Bushnell smiling and looking directly at me! He was making the rounds through the venue and warmly greeted me and everyone else at the table. I sat there stunned smiling ear to ear just staring at him and my mind went totally blank. He started talking about doing what you love, of having a unique idea when starting a company, and the friendship in coworkers. I have no idea of how he began talking about these topics with us, as I probably couldn't have formulated my own name either if asked at that point.

Anything preplanned I might have said to him was lost to me, but after his brief visit with us I noticed he was starting to leave. So I jumped up out of my seat, extended my right hand out to him and said "It's such an honor to meet you." I kept standing alone with him at the table while he continued to talk. Maybe that's when he actually brought up those topics I mentioned earlier; my brain was too scrambled to recall.

As Nolan left, my friend helped give me a push and suggested I ask if I could get a photo with him. He offered to take it for me with his better quality phone, and we circled around the table to meet Nolan. He was already getting cornered by someone else having him autograph a collection of around a dozen glossy photos of Nolan through his years at Atari. Another person jumped in and had Nolan sign a napkin. Immediately after that was an old coworker who wanted to talk shop with him on a possible joint business venture.

To my friend's dismay I waited patiently for all of them to fully finish before approaching Nolan with the photo question. He happily agreed, and put his hand on my shoulder kind of like my grandpa would have to smile and pose for the photo with me. My friend then asked me if I could get of photo of them which I gladly did. Right afterwards to my amazement, Allan Alcorn was suddenly there talking to Nolan! I whispered to my friend who that was and snapped a photo of the both of them chatting, with the previous coworker who was talking shop in the center.

The Colleagues

For being such a trailblazer, headstrong and probably sometimes aggressive in the business actions and decisions Nolan has made through his whole life, I was half expecting his personality to be strong, overconfident, and possibly even a little arrogant. Maybe getting older could have softened him, but he was so welcoming and friendly who came across as just a humble average Joe more than happy to share his time.

What really struck me at the gathering in general was how warm and inviting everyone there was. A very large portion of the people attending were elderly men and women that still cherished their time at Atari and was quick with a warm smile, hug and introduction regardless of who you were. I'd get into these deep conversations with random people that were part of a group my friends or others knew. I talked at length with a professor teaching the history of technology at the University of Southern California, a guy who started a business teaching groups of people to better understand the concept of playing Dungeons & Dragons, and a robotics engineer working for Google among others.

Most of my best friends to this day came from Midway (Atari), like the ones I attended the reunion with and still voice chat over Zoom every other week. It was all thanks to my closest friend John Kim that they were even willing to take a chance on hiring an unknown like me just based off my anime art and desire to learn.

The president of Atari during the late 70's to mid 80's said at the event: "What other company would still hold regular reunions almost 20 years after that company closed?" There was something really special about that place, and I'm so grateful that I'll always have been a part of it.

-Mavdoc

[Mavdoc]

Is this the manifestation of Jack's will onto the town of Barton? Pumpkins sprouting up everywhere, even on or around avatars! eek

This is total "Pumpkin Pandemonium"! xd Thanks molly pancake and Rayon Declaire for being the first ones to notice. 3nodding This is one scheme of Jack's that I'm all onboard for! emotion_awesome

Dress up covered in pumpkins and in the traditional Halloween colors of orange and black, and join us on Blood Bat server at 5 pm PST tonight around Barton Fountain. whee

Today is also a special day in that it's Nash-eoke_ the patcher's birthday! emotion_yatta Occurring at almost the same time he finished an awesome public pop illustration in a London warehouse of art and music. Come wish him a wonderful day and congrats on his beautiful work! 4laugh

Remember to have a friend you can warp to, or add me to your friends list which I'll gladly accept. If you happen to arrive in zOMG! on a different layer than everyone else, just check your map for the blue dot with an arrow representing a friend, and click on that to instantly warp to their location.

If you're on the wrong layer and don't have any friends at the Dev Meat, open the Recrewt List (button located on the bottom of the map window), and toggle on the "Looking for Crew" checkbox. After getting warped to the correct layer from someone's invite, either stay in the crew or toggle your name off in the Recrewt List so people will know you're on the right layer.

Note that zOMG! servers constantly get recycled, filled up and shutdown for new ones, so make sure to check back here if the server we meat on will need to change, as it will be updated in this announcement.

[Nash-eoke_The Patcher]

=^_~= I thank ye muchly .

I have the pics on my Flickr . I have yet to attach them too my profile .

Check out my Insta : Super_Sharp_Shooter or You Tube : DJpuffthethird , if you want to see my work before I get to add them to my Prof.

.

Been with Linda and the boys, my half brother Vinton and Step Mother today , for Borthday Dinner .

I will do my best to attend , health bidding . But I will need to get back to my gaff , for a quick rest up first .

=^-^=

Regds & Peace

Nash

NTP

[Nash-eoke_The Patcher]

[Platonic Purple Panda]

Dev meat pictures! Enjoy!
https://imgur.com/pkRzkPk
https://imgur.com/3zrmFgt
https://imgur.com/v7OLsEL
https://imgur.com/HqQMoJM
https://imgur.com/ldKAVz4

[Hanteeru]

Was curious about how rally3D was doing and it was updated to have access to a 3D version of Barton town! O: Maybe once it's a bit easier to handle for everyone, could have a dev meat there. Pics:

[bit390]

Hi Gaians:

It was so great to see you all of you in the dev meat with the theme Pumpkin Pandemonium, congratulations to Nash for your Birthday and success. I take some screenshots of the meeting;












For your convenience, the rest of the screenshots are under the spoiler label.

Also welcome to the new gaians who came to the meeting

[bit390]

Mavdoc

Here is the journal type account I made for what happened at the Atari company event recently. It was meant for me to remember the details long term, plus since I'm sharing it with others, I added in company history which I paraphrased through Wikipedia.

Hope you enjoy reading and learning how big of an influence Nolan Bushnell and Atari was in so many aspects of life we know today! biggrin



Atari 50th Anniversary Reunion

The Event

Atari's 50th anniversary occurred on October 7th and they had a 5+ hour reunion in a San Jose park which I attended. Midway still had the name Atari just 3 years before I started working there, and of course their roots are famously well-known.

I went with an old coworker friend that flew up from San Diego and met other friends at the park. Earlier to my surprise I'd learned that the living legend Nolan Bushnell was going to be there, who was the one that started Atari! The name Atari is a Japanese term from Nolan's favorite game Go referring to when you're about to take the other player's piece(s). Atari's first game was Pong, which was a massive success and the inspiration for Atari's logo.

Nolan is also credited with creating the first arcade game in the world: Computer Space. Production of the game began in December 1971, the month and year I was born. I attended this 50th anniversary event at the age of 50 myself.

The Legend

Nolan started more than 20 companies, one of them being Chuck E. Cheese. He was an electrical engineer and always wanted to work for Disney, and choose the mascot as a homage to Mickey Mouse. The restaurant became the perfect place to showcase arcade games that Atari created, as Nolan had imagined a place where kids can eat pizza and have fun playing together.

In the early 80's, Nolan poured his efforts into a company he owned named Kadabrascope which was an early attempt at computer animation. A couple years later he sold it to George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars, which became the beginnings of Pixar.

Nolan founded another company in 1984 that helped startup businesses develop. One of these companies was the first to digitize the maps of the world and became the backbone of Google Maps and other GPS systems.

He's created and spearheaded so many things in his life it almost doesn't seem possible. Of course one of the biggest things he's known for is the Atari 2600, which was my first video game system that started my passion for video games. He formulated the concept and design of the system that could play interchangeable games, which was groundbreaking at the time. The first game created was Pong, made by Nolan Bushnell and Allan Alcorn; Atari's second employee.

The Kid

In 1974, an 18 year old kid with disheveled hair and wearing sandals arrived in Atari's front lobby. The secretary called Allan and said: "We’ve got a hippie kid in the lobby. He says he’s not going to leave until we hire him. Should we call the cops or let him in?" Despite his look, Allen decided to see him and was so impressed by the enthusiasm the kid had that he hired him on the spot. He proved difficult to work with and believed (incorrectly) he didn't need to take showers or use deodorant because of the special fruit diet he was on, even though he had strong body odor that bothered other employees. Allan's solution was to have him work alone only at night. That young hippie's name: Steve Jobs.

At one point Steve Jobs approached Nolan about investing in the home computer he created with his friend Steve Wozniak from borrowed Atari parts which he named the Apple I. Nolan wanted to focus the company on arcade games and home consoles so he declined the offer. Later in 1975, Steve Jobs approached Nolan again and offered a one-third equity stake in his new company Apple for $50k to which he said no, probably Nolan's biggest regret.

Before the Atari reunion I read the Wikipedia pages for Nolan Bushnell, Allan Alcorn and Atari just for the slim chance that it could come in handy. I even came up with conversation starters I could use if by some miracle I'd run into them to chat. In the end it just helped me to write up this brief history of the company and its major players.

The Meeting

The entire time I was at the reunion, I was scanning for Nolan hoping just to get a glimpse of him in person. The event totaled 200-300 former employees and some guests which was far larger than I'd imagined it would be. As my friends and I got dinner and we sat on a park bench together, I stopped searching and focused on eating.

Then out of the blue I looked up as someone approached, and I saw Nolan Bushnell smiling and looking directly at me! He was making the rounds through the venue and warmly greeted me and everyone else at the table. I sat there stunned smiling ear to ear just staring at him and my mind went totally blank. He started talking about doing what you love, of having a unique idea when starting a company, and the friendship in coworkers. I have no idea of how he began talking about these topics with us, as I probably couldn't have formulated my own name either if asked at that point.

Anything preplanned I might have said to him was lost to me, but after his brief visit with us I noticed he was starting to leave. So I jumped up out of my seat, extended my right hand out to him and said "It's such an honor to meet you." I kept standing alone with him at the table while he continued to talk. Maybe that's when he actually brought up those topics I mentioned earlier; my brain was too scrambled to recall.

As Nolan left, my friend helped give me a push and suggested I ask if I could get a photo with him. He offered to take it for me with his better quality phone, and we circled around the table to meet Nolan. He was already getting cornered by someone else having him autograph a collection of around a dozen glossy photos of Nolan through his years at Atari. Another person jumped in and had Nolan sign a napkin. Immediately after that was an old coworker who wanted to talk shop with him on a possible joint business venture.

To my friend's dismay I waited patiently for all of them to fully finish before approaching Nolan with the photo question. He happily agreed, and put his hand on my shoulder kind of like my grandpa would have to smile and pose for the photo with me. My friend then asked me if I could get of photo of them which I gladly did. Right afterwards to my amazement, Allan Alcorn was suddenly there talking to Nolan! I whispered to my friend who that was and snapped a photo of the both of them chatting, with the previous coworker who was talking shop in the center.

The Colleagues

For being such a trailblazer, headstrong and probably sometimes aggressive in the business actions and decisions Nolan has made through his whole life, I was half expecting his personality to be strong, overconfident, and possibly even a little arrogant. Maybe getting older could have softened him, but he was so welcoming and friendly who came across as just a humble average Joe more than happy to share his time.

What really struck me at the gathering in general was how warm and inviting everyone there was. A very large portion of the people attending were elderly men and women that still cherished their time at Atari and was quick with a warm smile, hug and introduction regardless of who you were. I'd get into these deep conversations with random people that were part of a group my friends or others knew. I talked at length with a professor teaching the history of technology at the University of Southern California, a guy who started a business teaching groups of people to better understand the concept of playing Dungeons & Dragons, and a robotics engineer working for Google among others.

Most of my best friends to this day came from Midway (Atari), like the ones I attended the reunion with and still voice chat over Zoom every other week. It was all thanks to my closest friend John Kim that they were even willing to take a chance on hiring an unknown like me just based off my anime art and desire to learn.

The president of Atari during the late 70's to mid 80's said at the event: "What other company would still hold regular reunions almost 20 years after that company closed?" There was something really special about that place, and I'm so grateful that I'll always have been a part of it.

-Mavdoc

I think the law of Morphy was present in the meeting, because; "When you (hard)
search for something/someone you do not found it, but when you do not search, you have
it in front of you"

Lucky you that Nolan was walking to your table and start to talk with
all of you, also kudos to your friend who help you to take a photo
with this singular person.

Also a wise words from The president of Atari.

It's so great to listen that you are still in touch with your
friends that you know in your company Midway.

You shared a strong words to get a god job; "desire to learn"


Thanks Mavdoc for sharing your story (n__n)

[raggedy grrl]

Mav, what a terrific read! I've enjoyed your past write-ups about working on zOMG!, and this was just as delightful. 

I had wondered about the company name since, as possibly the world's worst Go player, I've heard the term quite a lot during games. 

I was particularly tickled about the description of Steve Jobs. Even though I didn't have my own Apple system until a little over a year ago, I've been weirdly obsessed with their story since I was young. I have about half of a shelf filled with various books by former employees and historians, but there's something new to learn whenever I hear about the early days. 
biggrin

The story reminded me a bit of another story I heard about Howard Hughes. It was from someone I interviewed...her mom was life-long friends with Mr. Hughes, and he used to stay at their house on and off when she was growing up. He was great, but her mom had to convince Howard to shower whenever he came by, though. 

At least Nolan didn't decide to go hang gliding when the guys from IBM showed up to talk about buying an OS for their new PC...but I can understand his regret, lol.

I'm really glad you got to talk with him and get a photo! 

The sheer amount of programming effort to make those early games happen was absolute amazing! Especially given the tools (and utter lack of StackExchange, HAHAHA). I have Michael Abrash's Black Book of Assembly Programming on my computer bookshelf. I haven't had the need to dip into assembly more than once or twice, but the book is still cool...he did some of the earliest PC games. 

[Nash-eoke_The Patcher]

Hanteeru

Was curious about how rally3D was doing and it was updated to have access to a 3D version of Barton town! O: Maybe once it's a bit easier to handle for everyone, could have a dev meat there. Pics:

Lol I dont know where you found that . But I searched for Rally3D and all I found was the Car park , now enclosed with a door to leave . Th music sounding more like the normal gaia standard

Something that resembled what we tested before , but less features , no build mode or Cursed avatar . Plus I couldn't get into area's that I could before XD

.

I never found Barton Town ?

Are we going forwards or backwards here ? lol

rofl